


Bitter Tea

by BuddyWritesFic



Category: Warhammer 40.000
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drugs, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Psychic Abilities
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 05:35:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29363364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BuddyWritesFic/pseuds/BuddyWritesFic
Summary: AU where Sanguinius survives the Heresy. Magnus finds out that Sanguinius is a psyker and that his abilities are causing him distress, so he takes it on himself to give him some lessons. Some pharmacologically assisted lessons.
Relationships: Magnus the Red/Sanguinius
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 6





	Bitter Tea

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sheliak](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sheliak/gifts).



“Fulgrim already gave me drugs,” Sanguinius said. He sat cross-legged on a pillow in a meditation chamber on the _Photep_. A fountain played beside them, and hardy, space-faring houseplants sent green tendrils along the walls. “I don’t think it helped.”

“Which drugs did he give you?” Magnus asked. He summoned fire with a motion of his hand. He put the kettle over it.

“He didn’t say their names,” Sanguinius said. “Something that felt like orgasm. Something that felt like a spaceship crash. Something that felt like all the sorrows of every being that had ever suffered piercing my hearts at once.”

“Well, there’s drugs, and there’s drugs,” Magnus said. “These are different. I’ll show you.” He waved his hand, and little jars appeared along with a scale. “Extract of wormwood,” he said, weighing out a quarter gram of white powder. “This will keep your kidneys from taking the medicine out of your system before it can work.” He put it in the cup. Next were two grams of coarsely chopped brown things. “This we call Clarity. It opens your mind to new perceptions. It helps you to notice patterns you don’t usually see.” He put this in a strainer above the cup. Next he measured out one gram of resin. “This we call Peace. It helps to keep you calm.” He added it to the strainer along with the Clarity. Then two grams of dried green leaves. “This is peppermint. I put it in because it smells better than Clarity or Peace.”

“Do you really think it will help?” Sanguinius asked.

Magnus tilted his head. “It might. I hope it does. I know we have to try something, and this seems like a reasonable avenue to investigate. Your psychic powers are a part of you. Ignoring them is making you sick.”

Sanguinius’s voice turned quiet. “Looking at them makes me pretty sick, too.”

“I know, little brother, I know.” Magnus wrapped a wing around him. “That’s what the Peace is for.”

Being comforted by another bird person was still a novel experience for Sanguinius. It was jarring to see Magnus changed from his natural form, corrupted by Chaos. But it was warm under his feathers.

The kettle boiled, and Magnus poured water into the cup. Fragrant steam rose up from the tea. It smelled earthy and bitter and like peppermint. Magnus stirred in sugar and gave the cup to him.

“Aren’t you having any?” Sanguinius asked.

“Not this time,” Magnus said. “You’re going swimming; I’m watching from the shore. I’ll bring you back if things get too intense.” He made himself a cup of plain peppermint tea and raised it in a toast.

Sanguinius raised his own cup in response. “To Peace and Clarity, I guess.”

Magnus nodded. “To a good swim.”

Sanguinius drank. It was awful. He set the empty cup down on a table. “How long does it take to work?”

“Twenty minutes, or an hour,” Magnus said. “Sometimes two. It varies between people.”

“What do we do for an hour?”

Magnus made another arcane gesture, and a tray appeared before them with glass jars of colored sand. “Sand art?” he suggested.

So Sanguinius sat with him, pouring sand in the tray and shaping it into vines and flowers, waiting for it to change.


End file.
